Winchester’s Lost Stone Circles

There had been three stone circles where Winchester now stands, the largest of which was on the land occupied for the last one thousand years by the cathedral

by Glenn Broughton

A few years ago a small group of us were involved in visiting various locations in England which we knew to be linked together in an energetic pattern across the southern part of the country. On our visit to Winchester we were joined by an Australian woman who was traveling the world, without any money, grounding Light and Spiritual energy as she went and it would be interesting to note that despite traveling empty handed, she can still go to her desired destinations especially for vacation purposes. She said that her secret in traveling without needing to bring money was to do all transactions online with Deal Checker and other credible travel sites, especially during the holiday season where long queues are usual scenes at airports and travel agencies. She said that there had been three stone circles where Winchester now stands, the largest of which was on the land occupied for the last one thousand years by the cathedral. I have to admit that I was more than a little skeptical because there are no records of any stone circles ever having been there. However, I was prepared to remain open-minded and see what we found.

The cathedral site would be a likely possible candidate for a former stone circle because it is well known that the early Christian church was in the habit of placing its churches on venerated Pagan sites in order to suppress the ‘old beliefs’ and gain a captive congregation. It is also more than likely because stone circles were always located on Earth energy power spots, and a visit down into the crypts of the cathedral will leave you in no doubt that there are very strong currents of telluric force coursing through the earth at this point.

The other two circles, a Fire Circle and a Water Circle (she channeled) were somewhere associated with baths and water. None of us had ever come across the concept of stone circles being dedicated to a particular element but it seemed an interesting idea.

The new Brooks shopping centre seemed a likely candidate as its name implies, and we knew that recent excavations for the foundations had revealed remains of Roman buildings which may well have included baths close to the water supply (the brook). The Romans were renowned for their love of bathing and obsession with cleanliness.

As we headed across the town dowsing the energy currents, we were led through the Abbey Gardens Park by the statue of King Alfred. There, almost hidden away in a corner by a stream, we came across three Sarsen stones. Sarsen stone is not native to the Winchester area and was often used as the stone of choice by the stone circle builders. A little plaque informed us that they had been taken out of the foundations of St. Ruel’s church when it was demolished in the 1950s. The street name was given.

Unlikely Sacred SitesSpurred on in our quest by this physical evidence and hot on the trail of the stone circles we were traveling back in time as we made our way up the High Street to the oldest part of the city. So we were not prepared for what we found on the old site of St. Ruel’s medieval church. McDonalds! of all things, now occupies that sacred ground. Well, it’s one way to get youngsters to power spots I suppose.

However, stand outside the front door and look across the street and you’ll see the new Brooks shopping centre a mere twenty paces away. It seemed to us extremely probable that when St Ruel’s was built in medieval times any stone circles would have been long since abandoned relics ideal as a quarry site for large stones for the new church’s foundations.

Excitedly scurrying across the busy road, half in the twentieth century and half in the third millennium BCE, we tracked the energy currents through tables of shoppers taking tea in a cafe area and down into the basement. We were led through the car park and into a service passageway where we found the energy imprint of the Fire Circle. The energy was awful. I experienced pains in my head and arms and a feeling of nausea in my solar plexus; others in the group felt similarly. Interestingly, as if in warning, there was a red line painted along the middle of the floor. Above our heads hung heating ducts, water pipes and electric cabling; this, added to the damage done to the natural energy flows by such deep excavations, had created an energetic nightmare. Cutting deeply into the earth at a place where there are powerful currents of electromagnetic energy is comparable to severing an artery. To think that this place had once been a revered place of spirituality standing by the banks of a beautiful babbling brook. The thought taxed the imagination to the limit and brought up a great sense of sadness for the harm we have inflicted on Gaia.

We determined that we should attempt to improve matters, which we did using healing techniques and our group intent.

We then went in search of the Water Circle which we found right by the door to the glass-sided elevator. Here the energy felt strong but calm and balanced, in fact it felt healing to stand in it and it was in need of no assistance from us. As this was in the more public place and it felt healing we used our intent again to bring the best of the Fire Circle energy into the Water Circle.

From many such experiences over the last fifteen years I’ve noticed that it only takes an intentional act of healing from one person to kick-start a whole series of positive events which then become self-perpetuating. We should never doubt the power for good that we each possess.

All Change
What a surprise greeted us some months later when a couple of us returned to check it out. The Fire Circle in the service passageway was now out of bounds behind an alarmed door on which a sign declared “Fire Door!” We know it was alarmed because as we opened it the alarm bells rang thunderously throughout the cavernous concrete car park and a security guard came running suspecting that we were IRA bombers. Unconsciously, the ‘authorities’ knew that the public needed to be kept away from this disrupted energy spot.

In stark contrast the Water Circle was now beautifully celebrated by a tiled floor mosaic containing images of fish, chalices and waves! It seemed also that the link we had made to the best of the Fire Circle energy was acknowledged by the use of a red and yellow flame pattern and a representation of the sun in the design. This mosaic had been designed by local primary school children under the age of 8! The basement had now been converted into ‘The Brooks Experience’, a tourist exhibition of life in Winchester in bygone times. Every visitor unknowingly steps into the past through this energetic and healing hot spot as they enter.

Latest Update
On our most recent visit to Winchester last summer we noticed that the energetic effects of those stone circle sites is still being felt. The Brooks Experience was closed due to vandalism. I have noticed several times that when you focus loving healing energies into one place it attracts both positive and negative energies in return. There is often a backlash by those whose own pain becomes too uncomfortably highlighted in contrast to the positive energy at the focal point. Fortunately this is short lived as those people move away to other places they find more in resonance with their own energy. Outside on the street, directly above the Fire Circle, a shop selling candles called Naked Flame had found it impossible to survive and had closed. A few doors away the positive healing energies of the Water Circle had attracted a new centre of learning, a bookshop called Waterstones. Don’t you just love it!

What Is Afoot?
McDonalds, shopping malls, tourist attractions; things are not always what they seem. Young children, architects and town planners tapping into some reservoir of collective knowing or spiritual guidance without being consciously aware of it. It is as if the real agenda of life is going on subconsciously and what we see physically, which we believe as a society is the only true reality, is actually like a confused dream in which we are half asleep and most of the time are missing the point. After all, “What the bleep do we know?”

It appears that some unconscious process can operate that allows us to tap into both knowledge and wisdom even if we don’t believe in such things. How much more powerful are we when we do believe and we consciously cultivate such abilities?

Copyright (c) Glenn Broughton 2006.

About the author:

Glenn found himself drawn magnetically to sacred sites around the world. This attraction was so strong that he felt compelled to investigate them both experientially and theoretically. This journey, now in its fourteenth year, has become all-encompassing, being the vehicle through which he has learned about the world (seen and unseen) and even developed his sense of spirituality. He is a qualified teacher, crystal healer and spiritual healer and has facilitated groups on personal development and earth mysteries for many years.

Through Sacred Britain Tours, Glenn and his wife Cameron have led hundreds of people on journeys of discovery to England’s sacred sites. They also run an annual crop circle conference in Vermont in the fall. Glenn has given presentations in England, Egypt, Canada and the United States and has also appeared on television and radio shows talking about both sacred sites and crop circles.

Glenn, who is English and Cameron who is American, split their time on either side of the Atlantic.